Release the Kraken!
by Revolutionary Venom
Summary: "…Jack, what the bloody hell is that thing?" "That, my dear Owen, is a Monthessil, or otherwise known as a space kraken."
1. The Search Starts

"Ianto? Have you seen my boots anywhere?"

The Welshman sighed as he fixed the cufflinks on his shirt. "They're right where you left them last night, behind the couch in the living room."

Jack went to look behind the couch, and sure enough, there they were. Pulling his boots out and shoving his feet in them, he sighed. "Can't believe that we have to go in this early on a Sunday," he muttered. "Last night was so great too. Why can't we be lazy today?"

That brought a smile to Ianto's face as he shrugged into his suit jacket. "Because the Rift waits for no man or woman," he answered, kissing Jack on the cheek. "Or really, aliens I guess. Besides, you were the one who insisted on having any and all Rift alerts sent to your manipulator."

"That I did," Jack grudgingly agreed, finishing with the laces on his boots. "Did you message everyone?"

"I did. They'll all be on their way to the Hub within half an hour so we can go find out what the Rift is alerting us to," Ianto said, pocketing his phone, wallet, and keys. "So let's go. I want to get there and make coffee for everyone before they get there, or at least before we do the debriefing and head out."

Jack started for the door of Ianto's flat. "And everyone will love you for it," he said. "I just hope it's an easy case."

* * *

"Of course it's not easy. It's never easy with us."

"…Jack, what the bloody hell is that thing?"

"That, my dear Owen, is a Monthessil, or otherwise known as a space kraken," Jack said, looking at the CCTV footage that Tosh had pulled up for the group to look at.

"Like in _Clash of the Titans_?" Gwen asked, picking at a cherry danish.

"Sort of like that," Jack said. "A Monthessil though isn't nearly as big as the legendary ones here on Earth. The ones here are said to be forty to fifty feet in length, including the tentacles. A space kraken though isn't nearly as big; it's only about twenty to thirty feet long."

"How did it get here though?" asked Gwen.

"How does anything get here? The Rift throws them through," Owen answered, taking a sip of coffee. "Maybe it got thrown here from the future?"

Jack shook his head. "According to what history I remember from the Time Agency, the Monthessil isn't something that gets thrown about easily at all, and shouldn't be making contact with Earth until the 30th century."

Tosh hit a button on her remote to show more CCTV footage. "Well, it seems to be liking the water pretty well," she said. "Perhaps that has something to do with the pressure though, just like in space-"

"What do you mean by that exactly?" Gwen asked. "If it's a space creature, wouldn't it not be at all at home in the water?"

"Not necessarily," Jack stated. "A Monthessil lives in a different pocket of space where the pressure is immense. If they come from that particular pressure where it's as much as the water here in the ocean, why couldn't a space creature that is built like a giant squid live here?"

Owen looked at the CCTV footage that was being shown. "So is this thing far from Cardiff, or is it close by? Where's the footage coming from?"

"Strangely enough, it's somewhere between Queen Alexandra Dock and Cardiff Bay," Tosh said, bringing up a map of the area with another remote click. "It's between this area here-" she pointed to the opening of Queen Alexandra Dock that led to the rest of the water. "-and this area here," she drew a line with her finger from the first point down south, which followed a bridge and lead to another part of the land. "So far, it wants to stay in this area, as if it's unsure of whether to go into the ocean or make this its new home."

Jack ran a hand through his hair, a little puzzled. The group known as Torchwood had come across alien fish before, but they had all been beings who walked and talked on land. This was honestly a first for him to come across something that he only knew a little about from his original time. "Well, for now we can investigate the area, maybe see if any of the locals have seen or heard anything unusual. If it's not hostile and just looking for a home, maybe we can leave it be and help it out into the further reaches of the ocean."

"That may be more difficult than you think Jack," Ianto said. "If it's not supposed to appear for another eight to nine hundred years, what are we going to do?"

_That's the question, now isn't it?_ Jack thought. "Things aren't always set in stone. But just because it doesn't make contact with the people here until that time doesn't mean that it can't be here. Like how scientists discovered things that existed for thousands of years; they didn't have a clue until they saw the item with their own eyes, and even then it was still something they debated about." He shrugged. "So why not let it stay if it's not going to bother anyone? Myfanwy lives here and doesn't bother anyone when she's let out."

The team was silent until a "So when do we leave?" emerged from Gwen.

"Meet in the garage in an hour," Jack said. "I'll give you time to wake up since we weren't expecting this and it's not an emergency as of yet. But when you're done with Ianto's coffee, grab your gear and be ready by the SUV." With that, everyone but Ianto dispersed to their workstations to grab things/finish up their morning routine.

"Jack? Do you think this will be dangerous?" Ianto asked, coming over to their leader. "You look unsure about the situation."

"When are we ever sure about what we're dealing with?" the captain asked. He sighed. "I'm really hoping that this is a simple case and that we can perhaps get the thing to go out into the middle of the ocean or something, away from civilization, for the next nine centuries."

"I'm sure that we'll be able to figure something out, one way or another," Ianto said before hesitantly kissing him. "Would you like some coffee while everyone else is finishing their own breakfast?"

Jack smiled. "I believe I would…and maybe a little extra. Meet me in five minutes?"

A smile emerged, and a glance at the stopwatch to make sure upon the time. "Wouldn't miss it for the world, sir."


	2. Bloody Torchwood!

"To quote Ianto on this, 'of course it's not easy. It's never easy with us.'"

Ianto sighed after Owen stated that. Things hardly went as planned with Torchwood, but this was feeling ridiculous.

The team had settled back into the Hub after a very long day of looking for this creature. The area around where it had been found had been quite a bit of land, so lots of locals to question. Luckily, there were no suspicious characters or people who asked about why they were being questioned, but the team could only cover so much territory in one day.

"We start anew tomorrow," Jack called out from the stairs that led to his office. "Tosh, you're going to re-scan that area and make sure it hasn't moved, we don't need a giant space squid getting closer inland."

"What if it starts going out to sea?" asked Gwen, as she packed up her stuff at her station.

"If that's what ends up happening, we'll keep watching it to make sure that it goes out until it's far enough away to where we don't have to watch," Jack answered. "Go home and be back bright and early tomorrow. If you're all good, maybe you'll get breakfast."

Tosh, Owen, and Gwen gladly packed up their stuff and left for the night. Ianto sighed a bit and started to do a little cleaning.

Well, it's more accurate to say that he _wanted_ to do a little cleaning, but he was stopped by a pair of arms circling around his waist from behind. "What about you gorgeous? Wanna go home?"

"I would love to, but I have to clean up around here Jack," Ianto said, wanting to move out of his arms to do so, but also not wanting to move. He was exhausted, so instead he leaned back against his lover.

Jack held him closer. "We can leave it be, it's not like there's a lot to pick up. We haven't been here hardly at all today, and out there all of it." He turned Ianto around so they were face-to-face. "Let's get some dinner, yeah? We can pop in a movie too while we eat." He rubs his hands over Ianto's shoulders. "Some good pizza or Chinese, some Chris Hemsworth-"

Ianto chuckled. "You just want to watch _Thor_ again because you like seeing him act like he does in New Mexico." He hesitantly kissed Jack. "But I do see the appeal in your idea. Chinese and _Thor_ it is." 

* * *

Jack groaned when he heard his Vortex Manipulator start to beep. Opening his eyes, he rolled away from Ianto and looked at the clock.

3AM

_Why the hell is this thing going off this late at night?_ Picking up the infernal device, Jack rubbed one eye and flipped the top open, trying to figure out what was going on.

"Jack?" Ianto started rubbing the sleep away from his eyes. "What's going on?" When he didn't hear him answer for a moment, Ianto rolled over to look at Jack. "What's wrong?"

"…well, I'm not sure if this is going to be good or bad…" 

* * *

"You can't be serious Jack."

"I perfectly am Tosh."

"This sounds like some kind of fucking Torchwood joke."

Jack sighed at Owen's comment. "When it comes to us, the universe is sometimes considered a joke."

"…so the thing laid eggs close to the coast?"

"Seems it did Gwen," Ianto said, clicking a button on the remote to pull up an image on the big screen of the conference room. "As you can see, the actual creature is gone. However, it left a nest of eggs, last counted at around seven."

At this very early morning meeting, everyone was gathered at the Hub's conference room with mugs of Ianto's strong coffee and two boxes of donuts from the only place around that was open twenty four hours.

This was for sure going to be a long day.

"And there's no telling if Momma will be back?" Owen asked.

"Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't," Jack answered nonchalantly. "Most of the time, a female Monthessil will leave the nest and the male takes over the care of said eggs until they hatch. In this case though, there is no male to speak of present, so she may go back."

Gwen rubbed her eyes, just as exhausted as the rest of them. "So what can we do? Do we move the eggs further away from land?"

"That's a possible idea," Jack said. "But Mommy Octopus might not be happy if she comes back and sees the eggs gone."

"If they do return to the nest, how long is it between their leaving and coming back?" asked Tosh, taking a drink from her mug.

"…that's a good question," Ianto said. "If they do return in a shorter time span, then we can leave the eggs alone until after the allotted time has passed, correct?"

Jack sighed. "That's not how it works with them," he said. "We would need to study those eggs. Depending on how long it will take them to hatch will determine if and when the mother comes back."

"And how are we supposed to bloody well do that?" Owen asked. "We wouldn't even know what we were looking for, much less how we could study them."

The immortal thought for a few moments. "…kids, we're doing paperwork today, no field work unless absolutely necessary. Tomorrow, we're taking a field trip."


End file.
